WEEKLY collections of waste food will begin on Anglesey this week, with a trial set to take place in 10 island wards.

Those who received a participation leaflet last month have been chosen to take part, with up to 6,000 properties due participate.

These homes are set to be equipped with a food waste bin and food waste caddy, which is a small bin kept in the kitchen to be emptied into the food waste bin, in which people can put virtually all of their waste food.

Jo Quinney, of Acer Marketing, who are coordinating the project, said: "This will be a weekly collection. "Often the problem people have with alternate weekly collections is that the bins become smelly, and the things that smell are usually the things that we will be collecting.

"If someone lives in a flat then they are not going to compost, so we estimate that around 1.6 kilogrammes a week going in the bin are waste which is going to landfill.

"We need to divert that food waste stream, and this project will hopefully enable us to turn it all into a useful product.

"We have looked at other councils who have done similar projects and over the 10 wards on the island that will be trialing it, there will be three different systems we are trying.

"We will learn which works best and how people cope with it. The wards have been picked to have a mix of socio-economic housing with a mix of flats and shops and so on, we are making sure we’ve got a range.

"Some people are going to love it and find a lot of space left over in their bins, and other people won’t love it, but hopefully more will like it than don’t.

"The food waste doesn’t have to be organic or anything, just something you would have eaten, it could be a pre packaged thing, anything really, it can be past its sell-by date.

"It’s a trial for several months, and the ambition is that if it works then we can continue it across the island."

Most organic waste ends up in landfill and is a significant source of methane – a greenhouse gas which is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a climate change gas.

By composting kitchen waste, not only will it stop black bins from getting full but it means householders are doing their bit to help reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

The following can be put in the food waste bin: fruit and vegetables, meat and bones, fish, bread and pastries, and tea and coffee grounds.

The wards where the scheme is being trialled are Amlwch Wledig, Porth Amlwch, Cadnant and Tysilio, Cwm Cadnant, Cyngar, Cefni, Tudur, Rhosneigr, Aberffraw and Porthyfelin.